Search - Phil Collins :: Going Back: Special Edition

Phil Collins - Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing

Red on Black | Cardiff | 10/03/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Oh dear. I am sure that Phil Collins deeply loves this music and to be fair he makes a decent fist of "Papa was a rolling stone" and "Uptight (Everything's alright)". He also frankly admits that this was a labour and love and as such "my idea...was not to bring anything 'new' to these already great records". The trouble with this statement it that it begs the question why record them at all or more importantly what additional dimension is the selling point for this? Doing an X factor style run through of these great songs as an exercise in reverence is laudable but as a scintillating piece of music it falls flat. Carole King's "Going back" has been better covered by other artists not least of all the lovely versions by Dusty Springfield and Nils Lofgren. "Heatwave" always sounded perfect when performed by the Motown female groups like Martha and the Vandellas or the Supremes, thus Collins is onto a hiding to nothing here. His cover of "Jimmy Mack" is truly excruciating (although not as bad as "You keep me hangin on" on the deluxe edition), while "Going to a Go Go" is so intrinsically associated with Smokey Robinson and the Miracles that any artist would be brave to cover it and Collins voice is just not up to this. Thus for anyone to fall deeply in love with this album they must already be deeply in love with Collins voice since he admits that these are ultra straight recreations of the originals and while the backing musicians playing may be impeccable the "shop window" is Collins himself. The previous recent take by a white singer on the Motown catalogue by Michael McDonald kind of worked (although not always) but that was fundamentally because the former Doobie Brother does sound like a black singer, with Collins you keep expecting him to break into "Abacab" at any minute.



Having listened to Phil Collins take on the work on these classics of Motown I would remind the new or discerning listeners that Motown Chartbusters Vol 3 remains available on Amazon for under four quid where this transcendent music can be heard in its glory, as vibrant today as it was in the Sixties. If you don't own the originals seek them out and get the most sublime pop music of the 20th century to rank with the Beatles. Finally while I am not overly fond of Brian Wilson's recent covers album of Gershwin songs to his credit he tries something different, alternatively Robert Plant presents a model for older artists to aspire to with his brilliant choice of music for "Band of Joy". At one time Collins produced an album with his jazz fusion group Brand X called "Unorthodox Behaviour" which actually rivalled Weather Report in its brilliance (more please) in contrast "Going back" stands as an exercise in treading water by a very likeable bloke."

Phil Goes Back To His Motown-Listening Youth

Alan Caylow | USA | 10/03/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Phil Collins' brand-new album, "Going Back", is what it is---a Motown covers album. Heading towards his 60th birthday, Phil felt that now was the right time to pay tribute to many of the Motown classics that he grew up listening to, so, voila!---"Going Back". Having waited eight years for a new solo album from Phil, I'm not going to lie when I tell you that I would much rather have a new album of all-new material from the man, rather than wall-to-wall cover tunes (and how strange that Phil's former Genesis bandmate Peter Gabriel *also* released a covers album recently....). But hey, Phil can make whatever album he wants to make. He's already left his mark in music (and he was FINALLY inducted into the Rock'N'Roll Hall Of Fame with Genesis this past March, thank you God), so Phil doesn't owe anybody anything. He wants to do an album of Motown stuff? Fine.



The good news, I'm happy to say, is that "Going Back" is a lot of fun. Phil worked closely with some dudes who helped shape the Motown sound all those years ago---songwriter Lamont Dozier, and the Motown studio musician wizards known as the Funk Brothers. The songs sound pretty damm close to the Motown originals, and Phil sings his heart out. His drumming here sounds a *little bit* watered down, like he's not really firing on all cylinders behind that drumkit. But to be fair, Phil is still in recovery from recent back surgery, and he had to tape the drumsticks to his hands in order to play on this album. Nevertheless, he still adapts his drumming style to the old Motown sound well enough.



This Amazon-exclusive version of "Going Back" gives you seven more songs, for a grand total of 25 tunes! But the songs fly by very quickly. Phil says that "Going Back" could be his last solo album ever. I'd like to think that Phil still has one more album of original material left in him at least, but if "Going Back" really is it for this wonderfully talented singer/songwriter/musician, it wouldn't be a bad exit. "Going Back" was obviously a labor of love for Phil Collins, and it's a fun album to listen to. And hey, it's nice to have *anything* new from Phil at all! So I'll take it. :-)"